Our Executive Board and Honorary President

Alex O'Brien

Chair

Alex O'Brien is a science writer based in London, UK. Her work has been published by The Times, BBC, Scientific American, New Scientist, The Guardian and others.

In her first non-fiction science book, ‘The Truth Detective’ (shortlisted for two book awards), she calls on all of us to regularly interrogate the narratives and information we are given. It’s a book on critical thinking. 

She is particularly passionate about teaching critical thinking skills to young people. She spearheaded the UK Young Science Writer Award, which is aimed at students from state-funded schools to help encourage them into a career in STEM.

When she doesn’t write, she competes on the global poker circuit.

Elected in 2026 for 2 years. A full list of ABSW Chairs can be found lower down on this page.

Sarah Wild

Vice-Chair

Sarah Wild has been a specialist freelance science journalist and author for more than a decade. Before that, she was the science editor of national newspapers in South Africa. She has written about particle physics, cosmology, and everything in between.  

She has won several awards for her work and has been published in Nature, Science, Scientific American, and The Observer, among others. She is also the author of several books.

Sarah says she owes her career to other journalists. Networks – such as the ABSW – have opened doors for her, alerted her to opportunities, and helped to improve her craft. Now she wants to help build stronger networks to benefit others.

Elected in 2026 for 2 years.

Deborah Cohen

Treasurer

Deborah was the Editor of the BBC Radio Science Unit for many years, where she was responsible for programmes on Radio 4 and the World Service such as The Infinite Monkey Cage, The Life Scientific, Inside Science, All in the Mind, Health Check and Discovery.  She has lectured on science broadcasting to a variety of audiences, judged book and essay prizes and awarded grants for public engagement with science. She studied Physics a long time ago, is a Life Member of the ABSW and received an MBE for services to science and media in 2009.  

Elected in 2025 for 2 years.

Mun Keat Looi

Secretary

Mun Keat Looi is a journalist with over 20 years experience in science and health journalism. He is International News & Features Editor at The BMJ (British Medical Journal) and journalism lecturer at Imperial College London. He was named Editor of the Year at the 2026 Medical Journalism Awards.

Mun-Keat has co-authored two books, ‘Big Questions in Science: The quest to solve the great unknowns‘ (2013) and the Geek Guide to Life (2016). He has written and produced news, features, podcasts, and videos for The BMJ, Quartz, The Guardian, BBC Focus, Chemistry World and others, and was the science editor and fact-checker for the critically acclaimed book Spike (2021). He won the silver Rising Star Award at the 2015 British Media Awards and is the author of the ABSW ‘How to become a science writer‘ guide.

In previous lives, he was Commissioning Editor for the award-winning longform magazine Mosaic and led social media strategy for Wellcome Trust

See LinkedIn, Authory or follow on X and Bluesky.

Co-opted in 2026 for 1 year.

Roger Highfield

Honorary President

Roger Highfield is the Science Director of the Science Museum Group (Science Museum, London; National Science and Media Museum, Bradford; National Railway Museum, York; Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester; and Locomotion, Shildon). Previously, Roger was the Editor of New Scientist magazine between 2008 and 2011 and the Science Editor of The Daily Telegraph between 1988 and 2008, after joining Fleet Street in 1986. Previously he worked at Nuclear Engineering International and Pulse.

Roger has published articles widely including in Wired, Mosaic, Aeon, Science, Observer, Esquire, Sunday Times, Guardian, Evening Standard, Sunday Telegraph, Newsweek, Conde Nast Traveller, Spectator, Time and the Economist. He has written or co-authored nine books, most recently Virtual You: How Building Your Digital Twin Will Revolutionize Medicine and Change Your Life. 

Along with judging many book prizes, notably the Samuel Johnson Prize, Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize and the Wellcome Trust Book prize, he has judged the European Inventor Award and British Press Awards.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and Academy of Medical Sciences, Roger won the Royal Society’s Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar prize in 2012 and over the decades has garnered various awards for journalism, notably a British Press Award. 

Roger is also a Visiting Professor of Public Engagement at the University of Oxford and Department of Chemistry, UCL, and a Member of the UKRI – Medical Research Council.

Appointed in 2023. (A full list of ABSW Honorary Presidents can be found further down on this page)

Eva Amsen

European Representative

Eva is a freelance science writer and science communicator based in London. Her science journalism has appeared in The Observer, Undark, Nature, Hakai, Nautilus and other publications. She is also the author of two science books. 

Before becoming a science journalist, she worked in community engagement roles for scientific publishers and academics. Eva also holds a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Toronto and a MSc in chemistry from VU University Amsterdam.  

As ABSW’s European Representative, Eva hopes to keep the ABSW closely connected to the rest of the European science journalism community. 

Elected in 2025 for 2 years. 

Paul Adepoju

Board member

Paul is an award-winning freelance journalist, science communicator, and podcast host specialising in science, health, and technology. He holds a PhD in Cell Biology and Genetics and has written for Physics Magazine, Nature, The Lancet, and BMJ, among others.

He recently won the International Year of Quantum Science Journalism competition and received the ONA Community Award for supporting journalists across the world to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s a recipient of several fellowships. As the host of the Paul Talks Science podcast, he explores groundbreaking research and societal impacts. Passionate about science communication, he bridges the gap between complex science and public understanding globally.

Elected in 2026 for 2 years.

Ben Deighton

Board member

Ben Deighton is the Managing Editor of SciDev.Net, the world’s biggest news service covering science in a development context. He is responsible for overseeing SciDev.Net content, ensuring its editorial independence and the quality of articles and multimedia products. Ben joined SciDev.Net in July 2017 after four years as editor of Horizon magazine. 

Ben has worked as a journalist since 2001 and was previously a reporter for the Reuters news agency in London and Brussels. He has a degree in French and a postgraduate diploma in journalism.

Elected in 2025 for 2 years.

Charles Ebikeme

Board member

Charles Ebikeme is a freelance writer, journalist, editor, and former scientist. He specialises in health, global development, and science in society. His work has been published in The Guardian, Nature, Scientific American, Devex, The Continent, British Medical Journal, SciDev, Huffington Post, EU Observer, Hakai Magazine, and The Republic, among others.

Elected in 2026 for 2 years.

Aisling Irwin

Board member

Aisling freelances, mostly about science, the environment and development. Her work appears in publications such as New Scientist, Nature and SciDev.Net. 

She has lived in and freelanced from various countries in Asia and Africa and is the author of a couple of books – a travel guide to Cape Verde and the story of an African journey she did with her husband. 

In the distant past, she was a science correspondent on The Daily Telegraph. She has won a couple of awards for her writing and has been on the ABSW Board for four years. 

Elected in 2025 for 2 years.

Andy Extance

Board member (co-opted)

Andy fuses chemistry and physics – and whatever other elements cross his desk – into words, thanks to a career infused with both fields. He has been a freelance science writer since 2003, working for employers such as Chemistry World and Nature. He was news editor for Compound Semiconductor magazine from 2006 to 2009. 

Before that, Andy worked in commercial drug discovery research. He is also a director of Totnes Renewable Energy Society and a director of Exeter Empirical.

Andy was ABSW chair from 2020 to 2026.

Co-opted in 2026 for 1 year.

Bob Ward

Board member (co-opted)

Bob is the Policy and Communications Director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which he joined in November 2008. 

His previous roles included Director of Public Policy at Risk Management Solutions Ltd and Senior Manager for Policy Communication at the Royal Society. He has also worked as a freelance science writer and journalist. 

He is a Fellow of the Geological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Co-opted in 2026 for 1 year.

Ehsan Masood

Board member (co-opted)

Ehsan Masood is Editorials Editor, and Bureau Chief for Africa and the Middle East at the science journal Nature. 

His latest book is The Great Invention, how GDP became the world’s dominant economic indicator. 

He is also a former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has written and presented documentary programmes for BBC Radio 4.

Co-opted in 2026 for 1 year.

Andy Ridgway

Board member (co-opted)

Andy Ridgway is a former Deputy Editor of BBC Science Focus, and he continues to write, with his work having appeared in Focus, New Scientist, The Economist and Men's Health. He is an Associate Professor in Science Journalism at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol and former programme leader of their internationally renowned MSc in Science Communication. He is Project Manager of Science for Environment Policy, a news service run on behalf of the European Commission by UWE’s Science Communication Unit. He is also UWE’s principal investigator on COALESCE, an EU-funded project developing the European Competence Centre for Science Communication. 

Co-opted in 2026 for 1 year.

Anoushka Sinha

Student Representative (co-opted)

Anoushka is currently in her third year at King’s College London (KCL), studying for an MSci in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology. She is Head of Science at her university newspaper, Roar, and also works as an Astronomy Presenter at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

She completed a research fellowship at KCL, simulating particles using analogue computers and thereby making quantum research more accessible and efficient.

Having covered ABSW events in the past, she is looking forward to creating more opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience in science writing through the ABSW.

Co-opted in 2026 for 1 year.